Politics

Indian Air Force personnel prepare for drills in front of Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets on Jan. 10 at Hyakuri Air Base in Ibaraki, Japan.
Indo-Pacific

India, Japan boost defense ties with 1st joint fighter jet drills

Allies to go beyond naval, ground forces exercises as China flexes muscles

12 January 2023
The economic crisis in Pakistan likely prompted army chief Lt. Gen. Syed Asim Munir to directly ask wealthy Saudi Arabia and the UAE for new monetary assistance. (Nikkei montage/AP)
International relations

Pakistan army chief assumes loan diplomacy role amid forex crisis

Munir's Saudi Arabia, UAE trips likely timed to avert Islamabad debt default

11 January 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi discussed the proposed trade corridor in July 2022.
International relations

Russia and Iran eye trade route with India to bypass sanctions

Project, two decades in the making, would bypass Europe as tensions mount

11 January 2023
An unregistered Afghan refugee near the Torkham border crossing in Pakistan: Women have compelling reasons to flee a regime that is stripping away their rights but face an uncertain future in crisis-hit Pakistan. (Photo by Jamaima Afridi)
Asia Insight

Afghan women fleeing to Pakistan trade precarious life for another

U.N. seeks 'durable solutions' in 2023 as Islamabad's crises cloud outlook

10 January 2023
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar in Vienna on Jan. 2. He recently spoke with Nikkei about India's diplomatic approach, which he said covers "a range of interests and a range of partners."
Interview

Jaishankar explains 'India way' of diplomacy, from Quad to Ukraine

Foreign minister insists disagreement isn't a reason to stop cooperation

9 January 2023
Officials seal Electronic Voting Machines at a polling station during India's general election in 2019. The Election Commission plans to use modified EVMs to let citizens cast votes away from their home constituencies.
Politics

India readies remote voting to reach disenfranchised millions

Effort to bring internal migrants into democratic fold raises legal, tech worries

8 January 2023
Pakistani soldiers guard a road leading to Bannu on Dec. 20 where TTP militants took hostages at a counterterrorism center.
Terrorism

Pakistan hints at strikes in Afghanistan amid twin Taliban threats

Experts warn of worsening cross-border ties, say U.S. support essential

6 January 2023
China's President Xi Jinping and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018: Amid calls for New Delhi to reduce trade with its neighbor and rival, experts say decoupling "is easier said than done."
International relations

India-China border clash spotlights New Delhi's trade conundrum

Calls grow for less reliance on neighbor but decoupling 'easier said than done'

5 January 2023
The Maldives' then President Abdulla Yameen attends a meeting in Beijing in 2017. He brought the strategically located Indian Ocean nation closer to China, while his successor has adopted a pro-India approach.
Politics

Conviction of Maldives' pro-China Yameen overshadows election

Ex-president and current candidate's corruption appeal has high geopolitical stakes

5 January 2023
Nepal's newly elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, is pictured as he takes office in Kathmandu on Dec. 26.
Politics

Nepal's new PM faces ever trickier China-U.S.-India high wire act

Dahal likely to cozy up to Beijing as Himalayan nation's woes deepen, experts say

4 January 2023
From currencies to climate change, Nikkei Asia readers have predicted what 2023 has in store for Asia. 
The Big Story

Your predictions for Asia in 2023

Taiwan, Twitter and tanks: We asked our readers what's on the cards this year for geopolitics, business and more

4 January 2023
The leader of a rights movement in Pakistan's port town of Gwadar argues residents are not benefiting from China-backed development.
Belt and Road

Pakistan's Belt and Road hub Gwadar hit by protest clampdown

Tensions risk damaging town's prospects as Chinese investment destination

2 January 2023
Narendra Modi in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Sept. 16: The strength of India is its independent diplomacy.
Opinion

2023 outlook: India will mark its rise by showing leadership

U.S. and China will face new tripolar world amid demographic shifts

2 January 2023
Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, preparing to inherit a long list of domestic and international challenges, attends a news conference in Brasilia on Dec. 9.
Politics

What Lula's return in Brazil means for Asia

Champion of BRICS and Global South faces new risks and opportunities

30 December 2022
Police officers are seen outside a Marion Biotech office in Noida, India, on Dec. 29. Uzbekistan says 18 children died after consuming the company's cough syrup.
Pharmaceuticals

India probes cough syrup linked to Uzbekistan child deaths

Allegations echo Gambia scandal, casting new doubts on 'pharmacy of the world'

29 December 2022
The U.S. and Russia have been locked in a war of words over diplomatic approaches in Bangladesh. (Photo by Yuki Kohara) 
International relations

Bangladesh human rights controversy sparks U.S.-Russia spat

Moscow trumpets noninterference; Washington asks, 'Does that apply to Ukraine?'

28 December 2022
An MRT-6 test run in Dhaka: The line promises to help at least some commuters avoid the city's clogged streets. (Photo by Mahmud Hossain Opu)
Transportation

Bangladesh to open Japan-backed metro line on Wednesday

Experts say launch is a positive step but won't solve congestion on its own

27 December 2022
Afghan women protest against the Taliban's move to ban them from universities in Kabul on Dec. 22.
Afghanistan turmoil

Afghanistan ends year with 'retrograde' moves on executions, women

Public punishments, wider ban on female education drag country back to 1990s

26 December 2022
Rohingya refugees on a navy vessel headed to the Bangladeshi island of Bhasan Char in 2020.
Myanmar Crisis

At least 180 Rohingya feared dead: U.N. refugee agency

'Unseaworthy' boat that left Bangladesh has likely sunk, UNHCR says

26 December 2022
Rescue workers and police officers gather at the site of a suicide car bombing in Islamabad on Dec. 23. 
Terrorism

Suicide bombing in Islamabad kills 2 suspects and policeman

Attack comes two days after a Pakistani military operation killed 25 TTP militants

24 December 2022
Security officers guard a road leading to a counterterrorism center in Bannu, Pakistan that was seized by Taliban militants.
Opinion

Pakistan will need more than force to quash its Taliban threat

Authorities must work with local residents to squeeze out militants

23 December 2022
Chinese workers arrive in Gwadar, Pakistan, in 2017. A local protest leader has warned Chinese nationals to leave as he pressures the Pakistani government to meet his demands.
International relations

Gwadar protest leader warns Chinese to leave key Belt and Road port

Pakistani government faces increasingly confrontational local rights movement

22 December 2022
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appears to be taking a more cautious approach to new trade deals than his predecessors.
Trade

U.K. pushes Indo-Pacific trade deals to next year as dissent grows

CPTPP and FTA with India face headwinds over concerns agreements are being rushed

22 December 2022
Tawang, in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, in October 2006: The latest clashes were sparked by a Chinese attempt to seize mountaintop positions near the town.
Opinion

Modi's silence on China's land grabs will not be India's last word

While downplaying territorial losses, New Delhi is modernizing its military

19 December 2022
ISIS-K claimed responsibility for an attack on this Kabul hotel, pictured with damage and a blackened exterior on Dec. 13. The hotel is frequented by Chinese businesspeople and diplomats.
Terrorism

ISIS-K attack in Kabul compounds China's insurgency headaches

Beijing targeted by groups keen to undermine ties with Afghan Taliban, Pakistan

18 December 2022